Unionization in the tech sector

A tech union is a trade union for tech workers typically employed in high tech or information, community, technology services sectors. Due to the evolving nature of technology and work, different government agencies have conflicting definitions for who is a tech worker. Most definitions include computer scientists, people working in IT, telecommunications, media and video gaming.[1][2][3] Broader definitions include all workers required for a tech company to operate, including on-site service staff, contractors, and platform economy workers.[4]

Israel

Cellular, Internet and High-Tech was founded in 2014 as an affiliate of Israeli trade union confederation Histadrut.[5][6]

People's Republic of China
See also: 2010 Chinese labour unrest and 996.icu

Mainland China

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially the only trade union in PRC and acts as an extension of the state's interests. It either co-opts or restricts independent labour organising.

In 2018 Jasic Technology retaliated against a worker led union drive. Over 100 students and workers were arrested including members of Jasic Workers Solidarity Group in what became known as the Jasic incident.[7] In March 2019, Chinese tech workers mobilized, after an anonymous person uploaded a repository named 996.icu to GitHub. 996 refers to the 9AM to 9PM, 6 days a week work cycle or 72 hours.[7] Over 230000 tech workers, mainly in China 'starred' the repository, making it one of the largest tech actions in China.[8] US based Microsoft (which own GitHub) employees signed a letter in support of 996 movement, and opposing censorship.[9]

Hong Kong

In context of the pro democracy 2019 protests, tech workers founded the Hong Kong Information Technology Workers’ Union (Chinese: 香港資訊科技界工會) and are developing a database of employers who are supportive of the protests.[10]

United Kingdom

The first dedicated union branch for tech workers was launched by members of London chapter of Tech Workers Coalition. The branch is called United Tech and Allied Workers and is affiliated with Communication Workers Union.[11] In 2018. the British chapter of Game Workers Unite became a legally recognized union with the IWGB for all video game workers.[12]

United States

Tech unions are relatively new in the United States, with the exception of telecommunications. There is no single tech union in the United States for tech workers. The private sector has a low union density rate around 7 percent, with the newly formed tech industry being even lower.[13] Since 2018 several unions have launched initiatives to organize tech workers and successfully won collective bargaining agreements.

In 2019, 80 vendor contractors of Google, an outsourcing vendor named HCL Technologies voted to form a union with Pittsburgh United Steel Workers, making it the first successful tech union for office based workers.[14] In February 2020, Kickstarter employees voted to unionize with OPEIU Local 153.[15] Employees of HCL and Kickstarter organized the first two office based tech unions in 2019 and 2020 respectively.[4]

In January 2020, Communication Workers of America launched Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE)[16] and have unionized workers at Glitch,[17] Blue State Digital.[18] and Alphabet Workers Union within its first year.[19]

14 Instacart employees voted to form a union with UFCW, in the first app based union in the nation in February 2020.[20][21] One year later, in January 2021, Instacart announced it is laying off 2,000 employees including all 10 remaining unionized workers.[22]

See also

References
  1. Terrell, Michael Wolf and Dalton. "The high-tech industry, what is it and why it matters to our economic future : Beyond the Numbers: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics". Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  2. "The Supply of Information Technology Workers in the United States - Computing Research Association (CRA)". Computing Research Association. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  3. Braslow, Samuel (2020-01-09). "Video Game and Tech Company Workers Are Turning to Unions for Labor Protection". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  4. Tarnoff, Ben. "The Making of the Tech Worker Movement". Logic Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  5. "Unions set sights on high-tech industry". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  6. Fisher, Ben. Unlikely unionists : organised labour in the Israeli ICT sector (PDF). Berlin: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Referat Globale Politik und Entwicklung. ISBN 978-3-96250-653-7. OCLC 1220920741.
  7. Lin, Kevin (May 14, 2020). "Tech Worker Organizing in China: A New Model for Workers Battling a Repressive State". New Labor Forum. 29 (2): 52–59. doi:10.1177/1095796020916201. ISSN 1095-7960.
  8. Tan, JS. "Tech Workers Are Workers, Too". Jacobin Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  9. "Microsoft workers decry grueling '996' working standard at Chinese tech firms". the Guardian. 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  10. Wu, Sarah (2020-01-10). "Hong Kong workers flock to labor unions as new protest tactic". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
  11. Mellino, Emiliano (2020-09-22). "Google and Microsoft staff set to join the UK's first tech trade union". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  12. Fogel, Stefanie; Fogel, Stefanie (2018-12-14). "Game Workers Unite UK Is That Country's First Games Industry Union". Variety. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  13. "Union Members Summary". Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  14. "US HCL Tech Employees: HCL Tech employees at Google US join Union". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  15. Carman, Ashley (2020-02-18). "Kickstarter employees vote to unionize". The Verge. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  16. "Major union launches campaign to organize video game and tech workers". Los Angeles Times. 2020-01-07. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  17. "Online code collaboration tool Glitch votes to unionize". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  18. Miller, Sean (October 21, 2020). "Employees At Democratic Firm Blue State Unionized By CODE-CWA". Campaigns and Elections. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  19. Schiffer, Zoe (2021-01-05). "Here's what we know about the Google union so far". The Verge. Retrieved 2021-01-22.
  20. Gurley, Lauren Kaori (February 2, 2020). "Instacart Workers Win Historic Union Election". Vice Media. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  21. Statt, Nick (2020-02-04). "Instacart workers voted to unionize this past weekend for better working conditions". The Verge. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  22. Schiffer, Zoe (2021-01-21). "Instacart is firing every employee who voted to unionize". The Verge. Retrieved 2021-01-22.
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